Dounreay

Dounreay is a small settlement on the north coast of Caithness in the Highland area of Scotland. It lies nine miles west of Thurso along the A836 road. The site includes the ruins of Dounreay Castle, a fort on a mound whose Gaelic name gives the place its title. Nearby Sandside Chase was the scene of a battle in 1437. A Second World War airfield once operated here before becoming a Royal Navy base in 1944. The Pentland Floating Offshore Wind Farm is planned seven and a half kilometres offshore. The two large nuclear establishments built here in the 1950s drove the local economy for decades. The Nuclear Power Development Establishment developed fast breeder reactors, while the Vulcan Naval Reactor Test Establishment tested submarine reactors. Both sites have now closed and are being cleared. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority took over management in 2021 to prevent job losses. By 2336 the entire area will be returned to open land. Visitors once entered a visitor centre in the old air traffic control tower. Guided tours took them by bus to the Prototype Fast Reactor building. Electronic devices were stored securely and white coats and radiation badges were worn. The tours passed through air locks to walk around the reactor core. A steel sphere forty-two metres high still stands above the landscape. The site’s history is visible in the ruins, the wind farm plans and the remains of scientific work.